One More, as 2019 Closes...

This has been a lean year. Here is another patchwork, put together in the hope that 2020 will be a bit more generous....

Of Babur and 'Baburnama'

Let me record from memory, a couple of lines about Babur, the first Mughal:

"Even after he was securely established in India, Babur remained a foreigner at heart, hating India and longing for the cooler landscapes of central Asia" - from the Reader's Digest Library of Modern Knowledge

"Babur ought to be viewed as the ambassador of a culture" - K M Panicker, Historian

Another quote, this time copied directly from source:

"Some of the words and phrases (that Babur used in his acclaimed journal) 'Baburnama' are now part of everyday language in India and Pakistan...Some of the social mores reflected in Baburnama have become de rigueur among the upper-middle and upper classes of India and Pakistan... today, better off Indians and Pakistanis, fluent in English, often say "so and so passed away" and rarely "so and so died". - from the Intro to Baburnama, written by Dilip Hiro.

Remark: It's hard to believe that such manners and courtesy were unknown in these parts until trained by Babur.

Let me quote some passages from Baburnama itself:

"Hindustan is a country of few charms. Its people have no good looks, of social intercourse, paying and receiving visits, there is none; of genius and capacity none; of manners, none; in handicraft and work, there is no form or symmetry, method or quality. There are no good horses, no good dogs, no grapes, musk melons or first rate fruits, no ice or cold water, no good bread or cooked food in the bazaars, no hamams, no colleges, no candles, torches or candlesticks"

"Pleasant things about Hindustan are that it is a large country and has masses of gold and silver. Its air in the rainy season is very fine.... even in the cold and the hot seasons, the airs are excellent... Another good thing in Hindustan is that it has innumerable and endless workmen of every kind. There is a fixed caste for every work which has done that work from father to son until now... 680 men worked daily on my buildings in Agra while 1491 stone cutters worked daily on my buildings in Agra, Sikri (although, presumably, their output was devoid of form, symmetry, method, quality)..."

Aside: Seems, as per Babur, one of the nicer things about Hindustan was the caste system!

My favorite among the Baburnama's many punchy descriptive passages:

"In place of candle and torch, they have a great dirty gang they call lamp-men, who in left hand, hold a small wooden tripod to one corner of which a thing like the top of a candlestick is fixed, having a wick in it... in the right hand, they hold a gourd, through a narrow slit is made in which oil is let in a trickle... Great people keep a hundred or two of these lamp-men. If their rulers have work at night needing candles, these dirty lamp men bring these lamps, go close up and there they stand. This is the Hindustani substitute for lamps and candlesticks!"

Aside 1: those lamp men brought to mind a TV electric bulb ad of some years ago - a large troop of acrobats, each holding a bulb by his teeth and hanging upside down from posts, light up a big palace!

Aside 2: Babur also says: "Apart from rivers and some lakes, Hindustan has no running water" - What other forms of running water could there possible be? Canals, maybe. But then, several books say Firozshah Tughlaq, for instance, had built an extensive network of canals in the Gangetic plains a century previously. So, I am not quite sure what Babur is talking about.

In a very recent (December 6th) issue of 'Frontline', Ziya us-Salam writes: "There is much to like about Babur.. and much that he did not like about India. (He was) blessed with an unerring eye for detail,...". He also says Babur was "drawn to India to settle disputes between Ibrahim Lodi, Daulat Khan and later, Rana Sanga".
So, Babur came to India as a judge or mediator - his arrival wasn't really an "invasion".

The article also says: "(Babur) fails to mention Lord Ram and his believed birthplace, lending substance to those who believe there is no way of knowing whether Ram was born at exactly the spot where the Ram Mandir litigants fought for in the Supreme court"

Ziya quotes Dilip Hiro as saying: "During his short stay in Ayodhya, having noticed the absence of a mosque in the town, Babur ordered Mir Baqi, one of his generals to build one without specifying its location and left..." and signs off with "So for all the fascination of Babur with each minor detail of India and Indians, their religion, their apparel, crops and eating habits, mosques were not his focus of attention. As for Janmabhoomi, even less so"
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Resisting Fascism

The last post here was largely a response to some observations by scholar-social commentator Sunil P Ilayidom. Now, here is a quote from his late mentor, Prof. M N Vijayan:

"Those walking along the footpath think the bus wont run them over. But, having mowed down those who stray onto the road proper, the bus can just as well charge onto the footpath and cut down unwary pedestrians there. And that's the way Fascism works. Just bear in mind - under a Fascist regime, there are no safe havens!"

Sorry Professor! There are safe enclaves in Fascism, as long as it lasts. The bus in your metaphor can and does offer free rides to some 'suitable' pedestrians who not only witness some of their former ilk being minced but act as enthusiastic cheerleaders, egging on the ruthless force they ride. And these Elect not only stay safe but prosper. Of course, there is the small matter of selling one's soul.

And I really know what I am talking about, although most of what I know does not come from books and speeches. For every Desi intellectual and commentator (most of whom are academics ensconced in state-run or funded universities) shadow boxing with manifestations of Fascism at the cosmic, national level, there are thousands of Indian private sector coolies for whom Fascism is no overarching ogre but everyday, local and immediate reality. This is a country that seems to conflate 'ease of doing business' with an unchecked freedom to exploit and manipulate anything and anybody - a land where at least every other enterprise is unmistakably Fascist.

The truest hallmark of Fascism - indeed, of any true blue evil setup - is that some elements really have it good: desi corporatedom abounds in gestapos, Goebbelses and Bormanns.
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Continuing a bit more on Sunil P Ilayidom's oratory and its impact, let me present two audience questions he faced (both exchanges were on YouTube. The second, am unable to locate right now; so, naturally, my translation of the first question is more accurate):

1. "Sunil Bro, I think Gandhi ought to be examined very critically. My understanding is that he was the one who laid the foundations of Hindutwa and also secured these foundations. Gandhi would say the religious injunction that Untouchables have to carry other people's excrement has sound basis in the bad karma these Untouchables accumulated in previous births... Gandhi used to emphasize 'Ram Rajya', and that was a social order based on Upper Caste, Brahminical supremacy.. And Gandhi was always opposed to Ambedkar, he never allowed the latter to come up, always suppressed him! So, to summarize, these are the 3 main points about which I would like you to comment - Gandhi's views on carrying excrement, Ram Rajya, and his suppression of Ambedkar,... and have I missed something,... yes, carrying excrement!"

(In response Ilayidom says (in essence) "Gandhi can be and ought to be criticized for many things but I totally disagree with the opinion that Gandhi was for Hindutwa - he was dead against it. That is why Godse killed him!"

2. "Look, Professor! you and other intellectuals can dispute and quibble all you want but we, proper Dalits, really don't care much for privileged folks and their high-brow analyses of our simple, everyday struggle against caste. And when we assert that your class struggle fixated and Marxist jargon laden analyses havent been of much use to us, you chaps get so protective about your ideology and talk down to us ...just look at your dialect, its Sanskrit-heavy vocabulary, its pretentious philosophical pomp!"

(Ilayidom in his reply expresses his conviction that although there could be serious differences on details, by engaging in collaborative activism and jointly resisting Hindutwa, Marxists like himself and Dalits would naturally converge onto common ground).

Aside: Another of the YouTube videos on an Ilayidom speech has the title: "When Gandhi returns, what will Marx do?" - as if Gandhi has gone off somewhere and has to return while Marx is a permanent resident in these parts. Interesting!

Nothing Iffy about these 'But's

6 years ago, I had blogged: "(Vadodara) has - as has every city in Gujarat - kilometer upon filthy, plastic-strewn kilometer of rail-track-side industrial slums. And the regime that prides itself on this kind of 'development' is now sold on reducing the Sardar (Patel) to a mere effigy - albeit a 600 foot one..."

Now that the 'effigy' is up and standing, Guj tourism has come up with this ad:



Far more remarkable than the dimensions of the Patel statue is this: 4 of the 5 grossest statues in the world show some Buddha or other - and Communist China is into building them in a big way!

Wiki has just told me that that Miss Liberty is NOT the 6th tallest; she gets thereabouts only with generous help from that massive pedestal and as just a statue, ranks a puny 48th.

That nearly 80 percent of all global monster statues are Buddhist is no recent trend. Even in the days of yore, there were the (no longer standing) Bamian statues and the (still sitting) Leshan Buddha. No wonder, the Persian word 'but' for 'idol' derives from 'Buddha'. Hasn't Buddhism come a long way from from the Sanchi or Amaravati stupas where the Master's presence was only indicated by footprints or a Bodhi tree or a parasol?

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Cochin - a Medieval Vision:

Here is a bit from great 17th century poet and scholar Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri's take on Cochin. A few sentences culled from Ulloor's Malayalam translation of a Sanskrit prose piece composed by Bhattathiri on Cochin and its then ruler Vira Kerala Varma. Note that this is not really travel writing or journal but a 'Prasasti' - grand eulogy.

Cochin lies between the ocean and a sprawl of backwaters which seem to be in competition with the ocean itself in expansiveness. As is well-known, the land of Kerala came into being aeons ago when divine intent forced the Ocean to retreat. And now, as if the Land were preparing for further assaults on the Ocean and had set up for that very purpose, a formidable a military outpost, the city of Cochin has emerged, ringed by massive fortifications and bristling with weaponry. Its spotless white walls rise sky high and bring to mind visions of the Himalayan mountains. And those massive ships with towering masts that float into Cochin from all over seem as if other major mountains were approaching in homage their supreme sovereign (Himalaya)...The great wealth borne here in all those ships are like Ocean's gifts to his beloved daughter - for Cochin is the true abode of Laxmi.. Merchantmen docked here are so numerous that they seem from far like sea crocodiles sunning on the beaches.... Great guns protrude from holes in the massive walls like dragons venturing forth from caves in remote mountains....The city is guarded by Portuguese soldiers with faces the color of pomegranates - In their red, black and white uniforms these men look like clusters of dark rainclouds, white winter clouds and scarlet sunset clouds that have somehow come together. And with those glittering swords hanging from their belts, these stalwart warriors resemble sandalwood trees, wherein dwell the fiercest among serpents...
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The other day, I revisited the school in the heart of Kochi city where I spent two years as an upper primary student. The main building is structurally unaltered but everything else has changed. To the side, where there used to be a dilapidated little block, its walls filled with the vilest of graffiti, one now sees a neat long building that probably houses a library. Several quotes from eminent people from world history have been painted onto the pillars. A Kerala style mural showing the popular poem 'Mambazham' adorns one of the inner walls.

Here are some of the quotes:

"You cannot believe in God until you believe in Yourself" - Vivekananda
"To find fault with is easy; but to do it better may be difficult" - Plutarch
"Always hold your head high; Look the world straight in the face" - Helen Keller
"Nothing strengthens authority like silence" - Leonardo Da Vinci

Here is a general, wide-angled view:


In those days, the outer walls weren't so proper, and there was no clean sidewalk. An open gutter ran beside the road - the school had no urinal (not to speak of proper toilet facilities) for students.

However, we had a vibrant 'Science Club'(even if it still exists, it is rather unlikely to be vibrant). And it had some teachers who, although they had never been to college (they were all "SSLC - TTC"s), knew their stuff (those were times when there were few jobs and little money and many bright people had to sacrifice higher studies to make ends meet; and in those days, we would spend a full week around Mahatma Gandhi's birthday cleaning up the premises). I still remember being told as a 10 year old: "The atom consists of electrons, protons and neutrons.... but that is not all; we also have some other fundamental particles, the positron, which is just like the electron but has the opposite charge and then there is the neutrino which can pass through anything without leaving a trace, you probably can't get a trace of it on a film! And there may be many more.. nobody knows!"

Note: despite the huge infrastructural overhaul that state-run and 'aided' schools have achieved, Kerala's state and aided colleges are in general, in pretty lousy shape. They seem to be funds-starved and cannot take money from students as private, 'self-reliant' colleges happily do.
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Here is a most shocking bit of statistics:

Among the top 10 Carbondioxide emitting countries in the world, Canada, the United States, and Russia emit more than double the global average per person. At the other end of the spectrum (of top emitters), India’s per capita emissions are only one-third of the global average. China is close to global average.

How the hell will things be when India becomes a 'developed superpower'?